Red is Best

The brother I talked about last week recently went to an art class. I was impressed with what he produced – he would be the first to say that he cannot draw.  He had a great art teacher who walked the class through every step - scaffolding.  A finished canvas stays on display throughout the sessions.  And Mark would readily admit “_______ no!  I can’t draw.”

Mark’s experience reminded me of how mentor texts can be used to show our students how to study and imitate author techniques. Mentor texts can help writers take risks.  Ideally a mentor text should be a passage that students can relate to and maybe even read independently.

Check out the oral reading of this mentor opinion book Red Is Best by Kathy Stinson.

Let me share an entry I wrote about my favorite color – I used Stinson’s approach – and I don’t think it’s “stealing” her style.  By studying Stinson’s approach, I’m learning a fun little way to give enough reasons for my color choice. 

I like navy best.
But my wife says …”you wear navy too much”
Navy is a no brainer – it goes well with everything.
Navy allows me to focus on big ideas and forget about how I look.
Navy quietly speaks professional.  Just a navy-blue professional. 
I feel serious in navy.   I feel safe in navy.  I feel confident in navy.
I like navy best.

Would reading Stinson’s book help you with writing about your favorite color? Yes, probably.
Using mentor texts as a way to teach writing is a new concept for me.  I keep thinking that I wish I had been taught how to write by studying mentor texts –I would be a better writer. But even writing teachers who are using mentor texts realize that the “show and tell” part of a featured technique in a particular book may doesn’t necessarily mean that the students are mastering that technique.  But I do think one thing mentor texts offer is that writing can be more engaging. 

Not sure where I pulled this from, but it’s worthwhile “There is no way of helping children to see themselves as writers if they are not interested. That is why the first responsibility of teachers must be to demonstrate to children that writing is interesting, possible, satisfying, and worthwhile”.  The use of books like Red Is Best offers such an opportunity for our young writers.

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